Power actuated tools for driving fasteners are widely used in the construction industry. Many of these power actuated tools are equipped to hold a plurality of fasteners so as to provide for the consecutive feeding of the fasteners and facilitate the continuous operation of the tool. The speed with which such tools can be loaded with fasteners is critical because the faster a tool can be loaded, the faster a series of fastening operations can be performed.
To facilitate the expeditious loading of fasteners into power tools various devices such as magazines, clips, strips, fastener packages, or the like, have been developed. Examples of such prior art devices may be found in Haytayan U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,618, Bakoledis U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,067. Merrick et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,961, Reynolds U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,867, Hilti U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,169, Anstett U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,284 and Hutchison U.S. Pat. No. 2,247,499.
Although these prior art devices provide a means for loading a plurality of fasteners into a tool, such devices present a variety of disadvantages and drawbacks. For examaple, the screw stick of Hutchison and the screw package of Merrick et al are rigid requiring the chamber of the tool which receives the fasteners to be straight. The requirement of a straight and neatly configured tool. Also, many of the prior art fastener clips result in the formation of a washer between the head of the fastener and the surface into which the fastener is mounted. This washer, which is sometimes intentionally formed, is the result in the complete separation of the fastener from the fastener clip. The washer may result in the loosening of the fastener when the washer works itself loose from beneath the head of the fastener or deteriorates. Additionally, most prior art devices or clips are only capable of supporting a single size of fastener. Thus, a specific type of clip or collation strip must be produced for each particular size of fastener.
Also, in some power fasteners, a constant amount of overdrive is required to purge the tool of the plastic of the collation strip. In other words, the plastic has to be driven out of the bore. This results in little or no nail depth control, which in some applications should vary.
Prior art tape collations, while easy to assembly, are too loose or flexible and require too many hands to feed a magazine efficiently. Such collations may also need a special jaw structure or centering device for guidance which opens after the strike. Such tape collations also are subject to jam-ups.
The present invention provides a collation strip which overcomes the disadvantages and drawbacks presented by these prior art devices.